Pours a nice thick oily black color with a very small brown head with some light lacing. Nose is a bit boozy but much more mellow than it originally was. Maple notes are there, but the chocolate and coffee is more upfront.

Taste is sharp, a bit boozy, with a light but clear maple flavor above and beyond re regular maple fayston. Mouthfeel is creamy and thick with appropriately light carbonation. Fantastic!

Received a pour of this outside of Triple Rock in Berkeley, thanks to gsgolovin & largadeer for being part of that crew. Good black and brown appearance, very small tan head, actually a good amount of lacing from such a small head formation on the top. Wow, what a lovely aroma. Just a massive amount of maple here, lovely. Maple first, mild barrel oak notes afterwards. Throw in some of the usual coffee and chocolate suspects to round out the aroma. It is magnificent.

Taste, more of the same, hides 12% alcohol like its nothing. Perfect blend of maple, not sugary, its au natural, sure some sweetness, but nothing artificial or added type of sweetness, just nice maple goodness. Swearing maple must absorb alcohol, this was so easy to drink. There's hiding the alcohol relative to its existence, and there's just outright making it seem nonexistant. This drinks like a 7% stout, not a 12%. Very mild charring, burnt feel if you look for it, along with vanilla which is actually a little more prominent than the char.

Another thing that really set the beer apart for me was the viscosity. It isn't trying to be the thickest beer, much like FiftyFifty Eclipse, this one does what allows the most flavor to come through in waves, rather than just trying to be the biggest, thickest, this one has touch, finesse. Go ahead and look for the big ol' Shaq's of imperial stouts or whatnot, I'm plenty good with the Michael Jordan and Dwyane Wade of imperial stouts.

EDIT: Had another bottle March 2013, wasn't as pungent with the maple, but still very good, still hides that alcohol so well.

Pours black with a one-finger light brown head. The head recedes into a wispy layer on top leaving decent lacing.

Smells of robust roasted malts with equal amounts of dark chocolate, heavy maple syrup, and vanilla. Also present are hints of butterscotch.

Tastes similar to how it smells, though not quite as robust. Heavily roasted malt flavors kick things off and are joined quickly by vanilla and smooth dark chocolate flavors. Midway through the sip maple syrup flavors sweeten things up a bit. The syrup fades out near the end of the sip, allowing the roasted malts, dark chocolate, and hints of oak to carry through to a moderately bitter ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with solid carbonation.

Drinkability is very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have a few more.

Overall I was a big fan of how balanced this beer was. There was a lot going on but nothing was overpowering. Well worth a shot.

S: Nose is mildy aromatic and very enticing. Dark chocolate, cocoa powder, fudge, maple syrup and roasted malt all in a perfect harmony of sweet and roastiness. At 12%, alcohol is surprisingly subdued in the nose.

M: Medium to full bodied with low carbonation. Oily and silky in the mouth with a slightest twinge of heat. Filmy. Incredibly smooth and dense going down. Finish is accented with a slightly lingering aftertaste.

D: Having had samples of the much touted Founders CBS, this beer is at least on par, if not better. Maple is apparent in this beer but not overwhelming and the chocolate and roasted malt characteristics complement the sweetness perfectly. Feel is absolutely spot on and nose just enticing me to dirnk more and more. At 12%, this one is dangerously drinkable. Definitely worth seeking out.

Big, big thanks to coreyfmcdonald for sharing at the BSP breakfast beer bash.

Black body with a light brown head. Aroma and taste are exactly as advertised - HUGE maple. It's as if you're frying up maple bacon in the next room. The maple is blended masterfully with coffee/chocolate.

Absolutely fantastic beer. I had this and Founders CBS the same morning. While CBS is a great beer, it couldn't hold a candle to the massive maple in Fayston Maple.

750ml corked & caged bottle into a couple of glasses. Rare batch 175 Bottle # 35/180. Black with a dark mocha head. Rich retention with a good bit of robust spotty lace. The aroma has a huge maple presence, with spicy tobacco notes along the back and some chocolate, vanilla and dark roast mixed in. A green tannic presence hangs on the edges but this isn’t hugely oaky. Maple is strong in the flavor as well, with a hot feel to it from the barrel. Chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, a touch of tobacco and dark roast all make themselves known as well. The roast leaves bitter char in the finish, where it lingers with some burnt barrel character. This full bodied and chewy in the mouth with some silkier undertones. This shows it’s alcohol but isn’t overly hot, just leaving some spicy sweetness back in the mouth. This was certainly tasty and interesting but the maple from the base beer and the barrel (both the maple and vanilla) just got to be a little too much in spots. I did like the overall complexity here though and the drinkability was decent. I’m still glad I sought this one out a while back.